The Sermons of Johannes Tauler · 23 of 124

Sermon for Sexagesima Sunday

The sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it And other some fell upon a rock, and as soon as it was sprung up it withered away, because it had no moisture. And other some fell among thorns, and the thorns growing up with it choked it And other some fell upon good ground, and being sprung up, yielded fruit a hundred-fold. — Luke v, 8.

Dear children, take things as we may, the beginning of a spiritual life is a going forth; thou must undoubtedly go out if thou wouldst ever amount to anything in the Christian state — go forth and out of all selfcontent, self-conceit, and self-will. Thou must strive to have dear to thyself nothing whatever but God’s honor and glory. Mark well: In whatsoever condition of mind or body thou findest thyself, out of that thou must go, whether it be a multitude of companions, or any other comfort of creatures. And this going forth must effect something more than a bodily change; it must be a deep-seated change in thy very soul. If God is ever to do a fruitful work in thee, thy spirit must be cut off and separated from all multiplicity. There is no escape from it; thou must forsake thy own activity, all thy natural faculties, forcibly break asunder the hard bands of nature; go out from thy manners and thy habits and all other such things; for it is clinging to these that especially hinders thy spiritual progress. Do as the ants do; when they have gathered the grains of wheat, they eat away and destroy the living kernel of each grain, lest it should sprout, and thus they save up their store of food. And so must thou destroy the kernel of joy that is in all thy inclinations and affections, lest when thou thinkest thyself making good

Insight

The image is grim and useful. Ants gather grains of wheat and eat away the living kernel of each grain, so the wheat cannot sprout in their store and rot it. Tauler says: do the same with the kernel of joy lodged in your inclinations and affections. Find what would otherwise sprout into self-pleasing in the very middle of your good intentions, and bite it out. He's describing the inward work that has to happen alongside any apparent reform. Most beginners change the outer arrangement of their lives and assume the change will work inward. Tauler is saying you can do it the other direction too — kill the seed of self-reference in the affection itself, and the outer life follows.Tauler ch23 ¶1 — ants and kernels; the deeper interior strip; cf. Cassian, Conferences IX on purity of intention.

Philosophers tell us that a man’s power of going forth lies in his will, though the intelligence invites him to do it. As soon as my mind perceives something good, then the will is informed of it, and forthwith starts away to obtain it and to enjoy it; for it is on account of the good contained in anything that we love it and seek to possess it. Now, this means the good that is in one’s own self, as well as that which we may find in other creatures. This is the better activity of the will. For if one’s love is false and narrow, one’s will does not go out, but would by a bad activity appropriate the desired good selfishly and slothfully. And it is certainly thus that all those persons act who seek themselves in serving God, calculating simply on their own spiritual profit. Their love is untrue and narrow and I would not give a penny for it all.

Dear child, thou must, in the love of thy God, so go out of thyself that thou shalt love Him alone, thinking as little as possible of joy or profit or reward, but only of His goodness and His glory. And, although thou knowest full well that He will recompense thee, yet on that thou must not allow thy mind to dwell, hiding it away as carefully as if thou didst not know it at all. Let nothing whatever but God’s honor influence thee; let thy heart melt with zeal for that; forget thyself in that, adverting little to thy own profit in what thou dost for God in soul or body. Otherwise what thou dost is thine and not God’s, for thou hast done it and not God. Consider Him always and seek to please Him, never anxiously asking whether or not or how much He will reward thee. Meantime be sure that all that thou thus givest exclusively to Him He will turn back upon thee. The less thou thinkest of thy glory and profit and recompense, the more will He think of thee in regard of all such things. Therefore does St. John say: ‘‘Perfect charity casteth out fear.” (I John iv, 18.) Men who act in this way know not fear, for they never think of themselves, whether for gain or loss; all such things are shut out of their souls, which know nothing but love. And they are finally rewarded as Simeon was, to whom it was granted to take the infant Jesus in his arms.

Insight

Perfect charity casteth out fear. Tauler reads this practically: men who love God only for His own goodness and glory know no fear, because they have stopped thinking of themselves entirely, gain or loss alike. The instruction is to know what God will give and then to hide that knowledge from yourself as carefully as if you didn't know it at all. This sounds like spiritual gymnastics, and from outside it is. From inside it is the only way the loving actually clarifies. Every time the mind reaches for reward, the love is contaminated by the calculation. The advanced practice is to know the reward exists, leave it untouched, and act only from the goodness of the one you're acting toward.Tauler ch23 ¶3 — 1 John 4:18; cf. Bhagavad Gita 2:47-48 on action without attachment to fruit.

But one might object: Is it really right that I should go out of my own activity and become void of all doing, thinking and willing? Is there no danger of my neglecting my bounden duty in this? Should I not even meditate on our Lord’s life and passion? On how God in His goodness created me after His own image, and bore my sins on the cross?

And on the joys of eternal life? I answer that this is all good, and well calculated to arouse the love of God in one’s soul, and elicit acts of thanksgiving. But beware lest with these devout thoughts other thoughts and mental images intrude themselves. St. Paul bids us walk in faith, and his meaning is that we should know God and truth by the feeling of faith. The very essence of truth must shine into our souls, and that requires that the soul should be totally free from all images of created things. God forbid that thou shouldst make little of our Redeemer’s passion, or draw away thy mind from thoughts of His crucifixion; but rather and on the contrary, having out of supreme love and gratitude stripped thy mind of all images for His sake, then and in that state shouldst thou contemplate Him crucified. If a man owes me five shillings, he pays me best in one single coin equal to the five shillings. Martha, Lazarus and Mary all knew the same Christ, but each one very differently from the others, and each received Him differently.

Now, take all this teaching, and act as a skillful artist does in painting a picture. He has skill in coloring, and in drawing and in other branches of his art, but they are all joined by him in a single united effort to produce the figure upon his canvas.

If thou wouldst return God the thanks most pleasing to Him, then keep thy soul void, in order that He may do His perfect work in thee, and that work is to give thee to know Him and love Him disinterestedly. A skillful artist and a rude peasant may stand together gazing upon a picture; but how differently do they appreciate it. The artist feels at once the full general influence of beauty and power; the peasant carefully counts and names the various figures. 60 wilt thou be better thankful to God, if thou wilt empty thy heart to receive Him in all loving simplicity, rather than distract and disturb thyself with studying and numbering thy devotional acts. What the lower orders of the angels behold in many images, the higher ones enjoy in a single net of contemplation. Choose for thy meditation those subjects which are most familiar to thee and which profit thee best, for our Lord approves that simple way, meanwhile ever ministering His joy and peace to thy soul. He seems to forego His own rights for a time, doing so in the interests of brotherly love among His children. Thus He says in the Gospel: “If thou comest to the altar to offer thy gift, and there thou rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee, leave thy gift at the altar, and going, first be reconciled to thy brother; and then come and offer thy gift. (Matt, v, 23-24.) Nor needst thou fear lest

DigitizecLbythou shalt lose anything by resting still in contemplation. Give thyself wholly to God in interior abandonment to His will, and be sure that thy external activity shall lose none of its vigor. What better canst thou do than work for God out of the single motive of love? Some think that everything in the spiritual life depends on their own exertions, and they constantly Strive to absorb the Divine light into that of their natural reason. Far be this from thee, for that would be to change the uncreated wisdom into that of a poor creature. But do thou just the contrary; by an effort of perfect love cast all thy wisdom deep into God’s— the low'est must not presume to master the highest. That we may go out of ourselves in all sincerity of detachment, and thereby prepare our souls as good soil for the seed of God’s Word, may God impart to us His grace. Amen.

all crowned by steadfast perseverance — Progress becomes perfection by peculiarly painful trials, a very filial love of God and entire abandonment to Him.